Subject: Good sites to search for real estate?
Author: teachick
Date Posted: 03 May 2004
Message:
Hi,
I've begun doing research on where to buy in Italy. I'm looking into the Abruzzi and Umbria areas, but am open to areas that offer more afforable properties, though are still close to a good sized town and airport. I could use advice! I will probably get over to Italy by Fall. So, I will be actively looking at that time.
Thank you!
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Subject:
Author: Gloria - Casina di Rosa
Date Posted: 04 May 2004
Message:
Hi!

There are many portals for real estates ads. Many are geared towards an international audience, such as http://www.knowital.com or http://www.propermatch.com.

But there are also many Italian portals such as http://www.123case.it http://www.a-immobiliari.com http://www.visurnet.com/annunci4.htm (here you find a list of portals with ads) http://www.casa.it

And many more.
We have just bought a house in Pisa, this is why I have this long list!
For cheaper properties the market is very lively and fast, so you have better have an idea of what you want.

Just one suggestion. When the agency gives you a price, make clear that that is what you want to hear until the end. What usually happens is that that play the offer trick: when you go there to say ok I am buying, they say "we have another offer, if you offer even only 1000 euros more, it's yours".
Do not accept that: it's awful. We were so annoyed in the end.

Look for "acquisto casa" + the name of the area and you will find many portals.

Good luck!
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Subject:
Author: catbriggs
Date Posted: 06 May 2004
Message:
We bought a house in Abruzzo with the help of House Around Italy (http://www.housearounditaly.com). They have a newsletter with a list of properties - photos, etc. They specialize in helping English-speaking buyers.
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Subject:
Author: PG27
Date Posted: 08 May 2004
Message:
We found our house in Umbria with the help of http://www.casambiente.com. We also looked at http://www.welcomeservice.it and http://www.laportaverde.com.

PG
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Subject:
Author: Barb (and Art)
Date Posted: 08 May 2004
Message:
And we recommend that you NOT deal with LaPorta Verde due to the extremely low level of service, and lack of familiarity with american needs. Interestingly enough, we have also heard complaints from other people from both Britain and Finland, who also said they thought they got more service from the OTHER real estate agent rather than LPV. Let the buyer beware!
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Subject:
Author: Mary Jane
Date Posted: 09 May 2004
Message:
Check http://www.villeecasali.it and wantedinrome websites for houses for sale. If you can pick up the glossy Ville e Casali you'll see dozens of pages listing houses, ville for sale and names & contacts for real estate dealers. The summaries are in English by yours truly,
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Subject:
Author: robin h
Date Posted: 10 May 2004
Message:
For properties in Piemonte,
http://www.smithgcb.demon.co.uk

The owners of our yearly rental house there used this agency and was very happy. Though I did note on my last trip that prices in real estate agency windows tend to be a good few tens of thousands of dollars lower than the prices on this site.
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Subject:
Author: jilli
Date Posted: 11 May 2004
Message:
http://www.lacasaemilia.com for very reasonably priced property.we just bought a place and they are very helpful (speak english) so can guide you through all the paperwork etc.Its a lovely area but seems to be overlooked because its so close to Tuscany.
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Subject:
Author: pamelajean
Date Posted: 11 May 2004
Message:
Speaking of real estate can anyone recommend any real estate websites which cover the Lombardy region? Specifically the Brescia area. I've looked at numerous sites but most of them seem to cover the more popular areas of Umbria and Tuscany. In addition I have found very few sites which include photos of the properties.
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Subject:
Author: Gloria - Casina di Rosa
Date Posted: 17 May 2004
Message:
That is true and it is very annoying. I didn't even contact the agencies which didn't published any photo!

In case any of you is interested in a quite big villa in Tuscany, 15km south of Siena, a collegue of my aunt's is selling his house to move to Rome where his married daughter lives now.

http://www.villinoelena.it/

You can contact him directly since we do not have anything to do with the sale. I am just helping him to make this known.

Just like to voice my agreement with Barb and Art about La Porta Verde. A year ago we were actively looking in Umbria, in a position to buy, and initially got along very well with them. However, it rather took us aback at their sudden lack of patience when , after they had suggested three or four properties , we didn"t want to buy any of them. "Just what IS the problem?" Mr Lane demanded of us. There was no problem of course, he just hadn"t shown us anything remotedly suitable up till then. He did not seem to understand that this was a very big step for us, spending hard-earned money and we were not about to go and make quick-fire decisions on something that we needed to be sure about. He did seem to back off a bit after I pointed this out but we didn"t need that kind of pressure and it put us right off them. We later wondered if the success of LPV and their new life in Italy had gone to their heads a bit :exclam:

As I understand it, LPV has undergone quite a few changes recently. There was apparently some sort of disagreement among the partners, and Dorrie, the "brains" of the outfit, left to start her own company. I don't know the name of it. Friends have recently confirmed to us that Graham really doesn't have a clue...and also, he is NOT a licensed realtor...just a middle man, more or less. Additionally, he is NOT fluent in Italian, NOT familiar with Italian laws regarding real estate, and NOT familiar with building codes/requirements.

Additionally, altho the site says that it doesn't cost any more to use them than to use an Italian realtor, this is 100% NOT TRUE!! :---) As documented in our blog, the agents from Tecnocasa were astounded to discover that LPV was charging us for certain services, such as transferring money, setting up a mortgage, etc. Tecnocasa told us that they NEVER charged extra for the things that LPV did.

I'm sure LPV will get theirs in the end, so this is not really about them, but I would like to save others the headaches and frustrations that we experienced by dealing with this rather unprofessional and inexperienced company. [-X :evil:

Phew! looks like we had a lucky escape from LPV